Monday, August 25, 2008

Block C

Block C is the block that starts all of the heavily contested matchups of this year's SaiMoe, culminating in the "Group of Death" in Block E. This block features early favorites like Amu Hinamori, Vita, Kagami Hiiragi, Kyou Fujibayashi, Shion Sonozaki and Louise De La Valliere. There are also many upset characters lurking about, such as the ARIA water fairies who will be double teaming Louise, as well as Yuno, Kana Minami, Kafuka Fuura, Sakuya Aizawa, and Rin Itoshiki. To put it simply - this is obviously one of the hardest brackets to predict in the SaiMoe tournament.

This is practically a shoe-horn for Vita this year, who at least this time doesn't have to run into Nanoha this year in her early bracket. Or any other fellow cast member for that matter. Which means, this may mark the first time Vita may get eliminated by a non-Nanoha series character.

This battle is really between Rin Itoshiki and Amu Hinamori. Rin is the underdog here, with a severe lack of screentime going against a character in Amu who is a everyday (and main heroine) character on her show - in a classic form that has produced cute eleven year old magical girl winners like Sakura Kinamoto (2001) and Nanoha Takamachi (2005). Amu is the clear favorite in this group, but we'll see how much fight Rin puts up.

In a battle of side characters, the "onee-chan" Sakuya Aizawa has the advantage here with being in a more well known and longer lasting series. Hinako Mochida is to not be overlooked here though - she's a loli tsundere that had 2 episodes of screentime in her series. (It was a 13 episode series, btw.)

Tamaki has the early advantage, being that the series has been long out for quite some time compared to the other two. That may also hurt her also, but I wouldn't think they're be a lot of H-doujin's of her if she wasn't popular. It wouldn't surprise me though if one of the other two manage a upset.

This group will be a brawl. We may see split KyoAni votes here, but the favorite (and by not much) is Kagami, who is seeking revenge this year from last year's epic bout with Rena Ryuugi (where it was thought she won by 300 votes, and after fake vote elimination, lost by 200 votes.) She'll be looking for revenge early versus Rena's fellow castmate, Shion Sonozaki. Kagami will be looking to eliminate the second half of the Sonozaki sisters in the first round, with Mion already going down to heavy favorite Fate Tessarossa in Block A. Sanae here is just Kanon-fodder, sadly.

At first glance, this group may be fairly weak. But Otome has some fans, and Kaaya (EVEILBACKSTABBERPRIEST) should have a fairly sizable fanbase as well. While the winner is not expected to advance after this round, there might be a upset character lurking here.

With Ryou passing on to the next round, it'll be surprising if Kyou doesn't advance as well. Takano is felt to be too old to be a good moe character. Tenshi is a unknown to me, but a non-factor regardless.

Louise has a very strong showing last year, reaching the quarterfinals until she ran into eventual champion, Rika Furude. In the process, she eliminated Suigintou, the doll who eliminated Fate Tessarossa early in last year's SaiMoe. Unlike last year where she had a fairly weak field against her, this year is a strong field for her - starting with this group. Both Undines are popular, especially now that ARIA is off the air and not expected to make any returns anytime soon, if ever. Split vote should help Louise here, but Louise fans have to turn out, and it's possible they may not - and let either Akira or Alicia (more likely Alicia) through, who are strong characters in their own rights.

Kafuka has the moe advantage here, being a fairly cute Yandere character. We see more of her dere side then we do the Yan, but the Yan is pretty scary when it's shown in brief segments. I don't expect too much competition for her here, and to advance to the next round.

Yuno is the overwhelming favorite in this group, being that she got up to the group finals before getting omochikaeri'ed by Rena Ryuugi in last year's Block D. Aoi Oribe is a character to not entirely look over though. Okay, look over her now - stupidannoyingsuperspeedvoicelollollolahahahahahaha.